State lawmakers OK bill to pipe Lake Michigan water to Yorkville, Montgomery, Oswego

The Illinois General Assembly has approved legislation that will allow Yorkville, Montgomery and Oswego to tap into Lake Michigan via the DuPage Water Commission.

“This initiative will provide the communities with the most sustainable, highest quality and most affordable source of drinking water, as local aquifers in the Kendall County region are gradually being depleted,” said state Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, who was the bill’s chief sponsor in the House of Representatives.

In the House, lawmakers approved the bill on March 23 on a 110-1 vote. The legislation had already cleared the Senate on a 54-4 vote. The bill will be sent to Gov. JB Pritzker for his signature.

The legislation will provide the three communities with two representatives on the DuPage Water Commission, which is currently made up of 13 members.

One representative would be appointed by the DuPage County Board chairman while the other is to be appointed by a majority vote of the mayors of the three municipalities.

After months of investigation and deliberation, all three of the municipalities decided late last year to connect with the DuPage system, rather than tapping into the Fox River or to use other sources to bring Lake Michigan water to their communities.

The new water source is needed because the aquifer supplying the wells now used by the three communities is rapidly being depleted.

The Illinois State Water Survey reports that without taking action, the three communities would be at “severe risk” of meeting water demand by 2050.

By that year, the population of the three communities is projected to have reached 143,000.

Hooking up with the DuPage system will involve construction of a pipeline and other supporting infrastructure. The cost will be high.

Yorkville, for example, is estimating its cost of connecting to the DuPage system at $94 million.

Just the day before Wheeler’s legislation was approved in the House, the Yorkville City Council approved what is expected to be only the first of several phased-in water rate increases.

Now, the typical Yorkville household pays $47 per month for water. By 2030, that monthly bill is expected to be about $100.

Meanwhile, the three municipalities are working on an intergovernmental agreement to split the cost of extending a pipeline from the DuPage water network.